Our Story

Pakaraka Farm is a 215 acres of diverse ecological agriculture projects and regenerating bush, Located in the beautiful Kauaeranga Valley, near Thames, in the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand.On the farm you will find sheep, cows, chickens, worms, bees, olive orchard, pecan orchard, chestnut orchard, home fruit orchard, home vegetable garden, passive solar house, reclaimed wood built barn, timber plantations and regenerating bush. The farm is off grid, powered by solar and micro-hydro systems, and has multiple springs that flow from the native bush.Established by Harry Parke and Jeanette Fitzsimons 25 years ago. The farm sells olive oil, chestnuts products, pecans and livestock.

Pakaraka Permaculture is a 1/4 acre organic market garden, 1/2 acre food forest, a Permaculture consultancy and an education centre for Permaculture, Organic gardening and Self-sufficiency, established in 2014 by Niva and Yotam Kay, with the burning desire to feed their community with the best food they can grow and to teach others these valuable skills.

Meet the Farmers:

Harry Parke has been a long time organic farmer. Has vast experience as a professional in livestock care and management, including 20 years as a professional and competition sheep shearer . Co-founder of Pakaraka farm.

Jeanette Fitzsimons the other co-founder of the farm, taught Environmental Studies and Energy planning at Auckland University for 12 years and likes to put her theoretical knowledge into practice on the farm. She recently retired from 14 years in Parliament as the Co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Yotam Kay is a master gardener, growing vegetables and teaching others how to do it since 2005. Yotam loves growing things and sharing his passion for it. Yotam holds a Diploma in Permaculture Design, and is a certified teacher. Yotam had been working on a wide range of projects before establishing Pakaraka Permaculture in 2014; leading community garden projects, establishing food gardens & sustainability programs in schools, to managing commercial organic gardens in New Zealand.

Niva Kay studied interdisciplinary environmental studies (where she met Yotam) and continued into Permaculture design. She had many hands-on experiences around the globe, growing, building and creating while searching for practical sustainable solutions to our global environmental crises. Niva and Yotam co-taught Permaculture design courses in Israel. Niva is a photographer and videographer, and is behind all of Pakaraka Permaculture's social media.

Thank you & Harry for today's workshop! I enjoyed it immensely and will be recommending it highly to my friends. Your vast knowledge and passion for gardening is very inspiring. I loved the whole day, so cannot really point out any potential improvements. I thought it was perfect as it was 😊

You really are living the dream and I wish you all the best.

Can I please just ask if you could email me the exact name of the bag of minerals that you were using and where to get it from? I was meaning to take a photo of it but forgot.

Hi Yotam and Niva.....thank you so much for a fantastic workshop on Saturday! I'm so glad I decided to commit to coming along. The chance to learn from you and meet so many like-minded people has really inspired me.

I LOVED the workshop. It was really great and I’ve been recommend it to everyone through FB and Instagram... I liked how real it was – using river stones as the weights in glass jars – I would not have thought I could do the ferments like that (not needing a fancy crock or airlock system). Being able to taste things was great – I didn’t think I liked kimchi but now I’m looking forward to making that.

It was wonderful catching up with you both on Saturday. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed being around like minded people again!! The workshop you put together was excellent. I had visions of struggling through the morning because I'd been up since 5am and travelled three hours to get to the venue but not so. If anything I was totally stimulated and very much regretted having to leave early. Thank you both for all the information you've sent as attachments, your time and what I think was excellent value for money. I LOVED the workshop. It was really great and I’ve been recommend it to everyone through FB and Instagram... I liked how real it was – using river stones as the weights in glass jars – I would not have thought I could do the ferments like that (not needing a fancy crock or airlock system). Being able to taste things was great – I didn’t think I liked kimchi but now I’m looking forward to making that.

Fantastic workshop if you are thinking of setting up a commercial operation for organic vegetable growing. The real time data and practical information gained through years of gardening experience that Yotam shares, will save you months if not years of fumbling through and making unnecessary mistakes.

My day at Pakaraka Farm was so inspiring. Yotam is clearly knowledgeable and passionate about all that their family do. So learning, taking the info in and understanding eveything was made very easy because of this. We came away with the fresh product of what we had been learning about to eat, fresh seeds sewn on the day to nurture ourselves once home and the knowledge and contacts to carry on if we so wished. I can only recommend Pakaraka Farm/Permaculture. The believe and enjoy all that they do. Which transpires into a great learning experience and wholesome produce. Thank you or sharing!